Expressvu Service From Bell Will Premiere "La Job" Starting October 9th 2006

A Québec adaptation of the popular TV series "The Office"

MONTREAL, QUÉBEC (Thursday, October 05, 2006) - The Québec working world will
soon have its own cult TV series! After conquering the United Kingdom and the
United States, the popular British sitcom The Office will finally be offered
to Québecers in a brand new version, produced entirely in French in Québec.
ExpressVu service from Bell (bell.ca/lajob) will broadcast it to its clients
before conventional networks, starting on October 9. The Québec adaptation
will be entitled La Job and will star Antoine Vézina, Sophie Cadieux,
Sébastien Huberdeau and Paul Ahmarani.
A total of 12 episodes of La Job, lasting 30 minutes each, were filmed in
high definition (HD) by André St-Pierre (Les Francs-tireurs). Produced by
Anne-Marie Losique (IDI), in association with Radio-Canada, ARTV and Bell,
this new series brings together twenty-odd Québec actors and actresses. The
scripts were adapted by Ian Lauzon and Jean-Philippe Granger. In both the
United Kingdom and the United States, The Office has received numerous prizes,
including an Emmy Award (best comedy), several BAFTA Awards and two Golden
Globes (best comedy and best actor in a comedy).
La Job follows the fortunes, both pathetic and touching at the same time,
of a small group of employees facing the joys and miseries of office life. Les
Papiers Jennings Papers, the leader in the Canadian paper industry, is in the
throes of reorganization and its subsidiary on Côte-de-Liesse is in danger of
closing its doors permanently. The threat of dismissal is one source of worry,
but the very 9-to-5 atmosphere of the office is undermined by another problem,
which goes by the name of David Gervais (Antoine Vézina) who is, as luck would
have it, the boss of the subsidiary... His peculiar management style, "rock'n
drôle", is a concept as obscure as his sense of humour. Find it amusing to be
told that you are being sacked "because you stole some post-it notes"? No?
David Gervais thinks it's hilarious ...
"We wanted to stay as faithful as possible to the original series, while
also creating a show that feels 100% made in Quebec. The humour in La Job is
grating, it deals to a large extent with people feeling uncomfortable, with
down time and with ambiguity. The fact that the series is filmed with a
hand-held camera emphasizes its realism and puts the viewer in the position of
a voyeur. I am convinced that the audience will buy the concept, since what
could be more universal than working life?" says the producer, Anne-Marie
Losique.
Bell, Canada's leader in the field of high definition (HD) broadcasting,
is offering the first two episodes of La Job to its ExpressVu clients free of
charge. Subsequent episodes will be available as pay-per-view programming. The
cost is $2.99 for two standard episodes (channel 161) or $3.99 for two HD
episodes (channel 157). Already, Bell offers the most HD programming in Canada
and keeps adding more channels.
"At Bell, we believe that innovation is what our customers want most when
it comes to entertainment and communications," said Nicolas Gaudreau, Bell
Vice-President, Québec Marketing and Integrated Markets. "We thrive on
partnerships and we like to develop for them new ways of doing things with
industry players, in order to be able to provide an extensive range of options
and experiences on each of our platforms. Our association with IDI for La job
is an excellent example of this approach, which holds much promise for our
customers and for entertainment-sector stakeholders who want to innovate along
with us."
The La Job TV series will be offered to ExpressVu subscribers from
October 9 to November 17, Monday through Friday, in pairs of episodes in
standard or high definition versions. It will begin airing on Radio-Canada
television in the winter of 2007, then in the fall of 2007 on ARTV.

About Bell Canada

Bell Canada is Canada's national leader in communications, with 28
million customer connections across the country. The company provides
consumers with simple solutions to all their communications needs, including
telephone services, wireless communications, high-speed Internet, digital
television and voice over IP. Bell also offers integrated information and
communications technology (ICT) services to businesses and governments, and is
the Virtual Chief Information Officer (VCIO) to small and medium businesses
(SMBs). Bell is proud to be a Premier National Partner and the exclusive
Communications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter
Games. Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. For information on Bell's products and
services, please visit www.bell.ca; for more information about BCE,
visit
www.bce.ca.

Media: Texts, photos and video may be downloaded from
http://69.90.7.24/expressvu-lajob/

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Broadcast Schedule

La Job

A Québec adaptation of the popular British sitcom The Office,
premiering on Bell's ExpressVu service.

La Job is available to ExpressVu suscribers in pairs of episodes, Monday
through Friday, starting at 6:00 a.m. and on the hour thereafter.


October 9 to 13 Episodes 1-2

October 16 to 20 Episodes 1-2
Episodes 3-4

October 23 to 27 Episodes 5-6

October 30 to November 3 Episodes 7-8

November 6 to 10 Episodes 9-10

November 13 to 17 Episodes 11-12

Information: www.bell.ca/lajob
>>



For further information: For media inquiries, please contact: Pierre
Leclerc, Bell Canada, Media Relations, (514) 391-2007, 1 877 391 2007,
pierre.leclerc@bell.ca; Marc Pichette, Director, Public
Relations and
Promotion Television, Radio-Canada, (514) 597-4191, Fax: (514) 597-4100,
marc_pichette@radio-canada.ca; Sylvie Désilets,
Head of Communications, ARTV,
(514) 597-3670; Isabelle Sullivan, IDI, (514) 284 2222 Ext. 2530

View all Bell World Press Releases

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